"Ansitz" hunting - your advice...?

[Denis]

Hallo to all, old friends and new!

First off, I'm back from my holidays. A proper report will follow when I get through the backlog of work which awaited me on my return... and when I manage to choose a few good photos from the thousands we took. Short version - Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are great places to take a break. I was particularly enamoured of NZ - it's high on my list for another trip - next time I'll arrange to go hunting there.

Fortunately, one bit of good news was waiting among all the bills and work - an invitation to a weekend's hunting on a forested military training area in central Germany. They organise two hunts a year, to keep the game populations down to a healthy level. I'll be going for four "Ansitz" sessions over a weekend in mid-October. "Ansitzen" means sitting quietly on a high chair or platform and waiting for game to pass by; shooting will be open for wild boar (both sexes, all ages), male roe deer, fox and hare.

Now, this presents me with two technical dilemmas: what weapon to use, and which optics. I'd be glad of your thoughts.

On the weapon - I'm thinking of taking my Kassnar Churchill Highlander - a bolt-action repeater in .308 Winchester. Provided I can roll my own ammo or find some suitable commercial hunting stuff in time, I think that calibre should offer enough variety of loadings to cover the palette of available game; light bullets (100-110grain) for fox and hare, medium for roebucks, and heavy (180gr+) for swine. Is this reasonable? If so, how much variety in bullet drop will I need to reckon with between loadings? On the other hand, am I needlessly complicating matters - would one load do it all? If so, which?

On the optics - "ansitzen" is typically practiced at dawn and dusk. At the moment, the Kassnar is wearing a Bauer fixed 6x scope - probably a rebadged Chinese or Japanese import. It does fine in normal lighting, but I don't know how it will fare in twilight - I'll have to test it without frightening the neighbours...

I do have a Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn 3-9x40mm variable power scope with an illuminated reticle. Would that be a better choice for the Ansitz? It has a sort of funky quasi-mil-dot/ranging reticle: lots of horizontal bars of different lengths in a ladder arrangement. Might that also help with the bullet-drop question above? Alas, I can't find a description of it anywhere on Bushnell's site.

The Bushnell scope is currently sitting in a clamp-on mount for my Swiss K31. Should I perhaps just bring that setup as-is and call it good? A K31 will probably go along as my back-up gun anyway.

I'd appreciate any thoughts...

[SoupOrMan]

Ah, you'll be hunting from a stand, like many deer hunters do here in Illinois. Their "stand" is usually a small chair of platform that has been fastened to a tree. Be prepared to sit and wait for a while. Since Illinois has a prohibition against hunting with centerfire rifles, I'm not sure what loads for .308 would be good. We usually use a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with slugs or a .357 revolver.

[MarkD]

You don't mentiont he ranges involved, but stand hunting is generally shorter range (under 150 yards). I'd think the .308 would be over-powered for most of what you'd be going for, especially foxes and hares. Is a big-bore pistol caliber rifle (like a .44 magnum) an option for you?

I'd also think, in switching among several bullet weights, you'd have to adjust your scope to match point-of-aim to point-of-impact (or use Kentucky Windage/Elevation). If your scope is set for deer bullets and you get a shot at a hare, would you have time to adjust the scope? Also, would you keep the rifle unloaded and load the appropriate round when a critter comes into view? Or would you load something and possibly have to unload and reload before you can shoot?

If for the foxes and hares you're hunting for pelts (are hare edible?), I'd imagine a .308 would mess up a lot of fur.

If it were me I'd probably bring the .308 with a single load for the deer and pigs, and a smallbore for the foxes and hares. I think a .22 Mag or .22 Hornet would be about perfect for the little guys, even .22 LR if you keep the ranges short and go for headshots.

[HTRN]

"Ansitzen" means sitting quietly on a high chair or platform and waiting for game to pass by;

It's practiced fairly commonly in the Midwest, in the middle of soybean fields, so you can get up above the crop. Shots are typically long 500 yards isn't uncommon. Jarrett is probably the best known smith of the "beanfield rifles", having practically invented the concept.


HTRN

[MarkD]

"Ansitzen" means sitting quietly on a high chair or platform and waiting for game to pass by;

It's practiced fairly commonly in the Midwest, in the middle of soybean fields, so you can get up above the crop. Shots are typically long 500 yards isn't uncommon. Jarrett is probably the best known smith of the "beanfield rifles", having practically invented the concept.


HTRN

Ah, I kind of assumed it was a tree stand, in a wooded area, hence my comment that the range would be short. That'll teach me to spout off about things I don't know anything about (no it won't).

[Erik]

I dont know about Germany, but here this is a common method for moose.
Here it's also fairly short distances, I think rarely over 200yards, and 100yards would be about average. If you go up really north, you'll find areas where they might shoot at 300m and beyond, (above the treeline in the mountains) but I've never heard of distances further than that.

I dont know how different it is in Germany, but my guess would be it's about the same ranges as here.

[Denis]

Thanks, all!

Food for thought there already - I'll have to check whether one is supposed to shoot hare in Germany with a shotgun or a rifle. Here in Belgium, hare is shotgun-only game. Hare is delicious, by the way...

Looking at google maps, the place where I'm going looks like it contains both heavily and reasonably sparsely wooded areas, (map here - "Stegskopf" is the barracks so I'll have to call the forrester in charge and ask what he has in mind. I suppose he'll have some suggestions for armament, too. If .308 is too heavy, I suppose I could use my Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55, but I don't have a scope on it, nor mounts for one. I'd probably have to make my own ammunition too, as I don't think anybody around here has anything suitable on the shelf. Oh, the hardship...

[Erik]

6.5x55 is traditionally *the* caliber of choice in Sweden for everything, including moose. Back when I got the hunters permit, probably 75% of all hunters used it. I know people who used it for everything, and just went to FMJ for smaller game.

However, I recently heard that .308 is taking over as the most popular caliber here, because of the growing boar population. Hunters have found out that the 6.5 isn't enough to put them down reliably. Apparently, boars are tougher than moose.

[Aglifter]

Are there caliber restrictions based on where you're shooting? I have heard that German stand hunting can be quite restrictive, as it is, at times, quite close to populated areas.

I would think you could use the same bullet for boar or roebuck, and perhaps a solid for the hare and fox in the same weight -- should minimize the different ballistics...

[Whirlibird]

Take whatever you're comfortable with shooting from a rest with.

Several of my friends are in Germany and participate in these shoots. Your stand is generally more like an enclosed shed on legs than the usual open hanging on one side of the tree 'tree stand'.

Think in terms of 50-250Y(or M) shots at standing or walking critters.

Take whatever scope has the best light gathering capability, that's going to be your biggest challenge. Take a good pair of binoculars also, again with good light transmission.

The RWS TIG and TUG bullets have a good reputation on game, check with the locals though to see what they prefer and why.

I'd be more likely to take 165/180 gr bullet loads for both the Roe deer and the boars and even the fox. However I'd probbaly bring a .22Hornet/.223 for the hare and fox instead of a backup full-size.